Also noteworthy about FarmVille, it has more users than Twitter.

I read Nelson's post, all the while wishing he would get to a point, rather than passively bash the players of FarmVille and foursquare. As an aside, if you haven't touched and felt what you're reviewing, how much of value can you add?

Anyway, his brainstorming is decent, although Matt Topper has a fully-baked frequent traveler app that he's been building in his head for years. The only new thing is mayorship of a route, which might work, but since the mayor is only one person and generally unattainable for the average traveler, you'd need more to make that game, erm, fly.

Also noteworthy about FarmVille, it has more users than Twitter.

I read Nelson's post, all the while wishing he would get to a point, rather than passively bash the players of FarmVille and foursquare. As an aside, if you haven't touched and felt what you're reviewing, how much of value can you add?

Anyway, his brainstorming is decent, although Matt Topper has a fully-baked frequent traveler app that he's been building in his head for years. The only new thing is mayorship of a route, which might work, but since the mayor is only one person and generally unattainable for the average traveler, you'd need more to make that game, erm, fly.

I'm hoping to see a bunch of great data visualizations. Imagine a Twittervision-type app where you can see checkins happen in overlaid on an area, or a heat-map (like you mention). That would be a great way to discover new places.

I wonder how many people are using foursquare. Obviously, that's the key. I do wish they continue to open more visibility into other cities. The latest iPhone app update includes a “Friends in Other Cities” listing, but it's way at the bottom of the main pane.

Speaking of which, how is adoption up there?

Of course, as more people play, there will be concerns with noise, but ideally the game will continue to be engaging.

In addition to commercial implications for venues, there's potentially userful information for developers/marketers of new social web services. It'd be interesting to see a time-lapse visualization of foursquare adoption (Last Night's Checkins for Everyone, maybe?)…where do the new users crop up, do they cluster, what level of activity do they maintain, where does one get critical mass of users, etc. Who knows, maybe the conclusions are boring, but I'd watch a presentation on that topic.